A United Front-Season 6 Promo Tag
by wimmer511
Summary: Lisbon gets caught by Red John, and the team jumps into action to save her. Jane has to face his fears about losing Lisbon. I give all the characters time to tell the story.


A United Front—A Season Six Promo Tag

The elevator door opened with a small ding and Van Pelt stepped off in a hurry, with Jane right behind her. After Jane and Lisbon had fought while working a case earlier, Lisbon had left her to take Jane back to headquarters. The entire argument had made her extremely uncomfortable. She knew why Lisbon had told Jane that Red John was her case and had reminded him that he worked for her, and she knew exactly why Jane had told her that she was out of her depth. They'd had many similar arguments over the years, but this one was different, somehow it had felt more personal and that was what had made it uncomfortable.

It had shocked her when Lisbon had taken the SUV and had left her to go back with Jane. Even Jane had been surprised, she'd seen it in his face. The two of them obviously knew something that they weren't telling the team. Aside from making her uncomfortable, she found that by the time they got back to HQ she was actually really angry. She supposed it hadn't helped that Jane had sulked the entire way back either.

"Grace," Jane called from behind her. "Wait."

She slowed, reminding herself that their fight hadn't been about her or the team. In all honesty she wasn't even sure if it had even been entirely about Red John. It had been a power struggle between the boss and Jane. "What isn't, Jane." She faced him and folded her arms over her chest.

"Now you're angry with me too?"

She took a deep breath out. "No. I'm fine."

He stopped a few feet away from her and was currently rubbing the pad of his thumb over the side of his index finger. "I'm sorry," he said, catching her off guard. "Lisbon and I shouldn't have fought like that in front of you—it was unprofessional."

She felt her teeth grinding. "You don't get it, do you Jane?" She could hear the cold indifference in her tone, but couldn't quite bring herself to care. "We're not idiots, Rigsby, Cho and I. You and boss both think that we don't know you have something new on Red John, but it's obvious you do. You locked yourself in your attic for a week, and then all of a sudden Red John comes out of the woodwork and kills someone that you knew from your childhood, and then you and Boss start fighting about Red John while we're working an entirely separate case. You're not fooling us—but we don't ask, we don't pry, because we know that if you wanted us to know you'd tell us."

"We don't think you're idiots," he said, letting his arms drop to his side. She could feel herself glaring, he continued, "_I_ don't think you're an idiot."

"That's not the point, Jane. The point is, that Lisbon is the one person you've decided to confide in, and instead of creating a united front, you condescend to her," she spat. Jane looked as though she'd slapped him in the face, but she couldn't stop herself. "You draw up walls between the two of you while refusing to allow anyone else to know what's going on. You're not the only person who wants to catch Red John, not the only person who has suffered because of him."

"Grace," Jane started.

She lifted a hand to quiet him. "Wayne, Cho and I all want Red John gone, we have a vested interest, but we stay out of it because we trust that you and boss will do the right thing by us. We trust that you'll catch him."

Silence filled the space between them for a moment before Jane decided to speak again. "We're trying the best we can."

"Whatever." She rolled her eyes, turned from him and headed to the bullpen, only to be surprised by the presence of Cho and Rigsby. They had been close enough to hear the entire conversation. Cho gave her a small encouraging smile as she passed and Rigsby turned and followed her into the bullpen. She didn't look back at Jane, didn't want to see his face and feel sorry for him.

She sat at her desk and turned her computer on and a moment later Cho walked into the bullpen and to his own desk. Everything she'd said to Jane had been true, she just hadn't realized until that afternoon, and more specifically five minutes ago, how deeply she'd felt it.

Rigsby moved slowly from his desk and came to stand next to her. "You all right?"

She nodded, looking first at Wayne and then at Cho. "How much did you hear?"

"All of it," Cho said. She dropped her head into her hands in regret. "Hey." She peeked through her fingers at Cho. "You did good."

He nodded at her once before turning to his own computer as Wayne rested his hand lightly on her shoulder.

"He needed to hear it," Wayne confirmed Cho's sentiment, then moved back to his own desk, after giving her shoulder a quick squeeze.

She swallowed the lump in her throat and got to work.

* * *

Lisbon double checked the address on her phone with the number on the house she had parked in front of, confirming that she was in the right spot. When they'd gotten the call in the morning that a local Sacramento socialite had been murdered by gunshot wound to the head, and that the victims family had specifically requested that the CBI be involved, she never imagined that any leads would bring her to the outer slums of Sacramento and more specifically to an old abandoned house.

She'd gotten a text earlier, when she was fighting with Jane, from Cho, letting her know that their victim had been spotted here a couple hours before her death. She looked out her window at the house again, at the broken windows, and dilapidated structure and briefly wondered if she should call Cho or Rigsby to come for back up. She decided it against it, though, as she looked around the neighborhood. It'd take them close to forty-five minutes to get here for something she was sure she could handle on her own.

The victim had been found with cocaine in her system, and Lisbon guessed that this was probably where she'd gotten it. In reality the case was starting to feel just like a drug deal gone south. The only thing truly suspicious was that her body had been found half an hour away from here, and a block from her home.

So, she'd investigate.

She pulled her car forward and parked it a house down, before getting out and making her way back. It was after dusk now, and she took one look at the house, before pulling out her flashlight. No way was their electricity inside. She walked carefully over the worn down boards of the porch and to the door, pushing it open after seeing that it was already a little ajar. She stepped into the house and felt a strange trickle of fear run up her spine and was in the process of reaching for her Glock when her phone rang. She cussed under her breath and pulled it from her pocket.

"Jane," she spat quietly before silencing her phone and shoving it back in her pocket. She was not in the mood to talk to him right now. She pulled her Glock, positioned her flashlight and made her way down the main hall of the house. She passed several empty and completely trashed rooms, floor boards creaking beneath her feet, finding nothing and no one. The entire house gave her a serious case of the willies, but she cleared it within a matter of minutes without seeing anything particularly unusual for an old abandoned home.

Still she started thinking that it might not be such a bad idea to get forensics down here to check it with a fine tooth comb. She hadn't seen anything terribly suspicious, but something about the place just didn't feel right to her. Maybe they'd find something she missed.

Her phone started vibrating, and she knew immediately who it was. She holstered her Glock and grabbed her phone from her pocket. It was the fifth time he'd called her in the last hour. She figured if it had been really important that Van Pelt, Rigs or Cho would've called her, but now she realized that he would just keep calling until she answered.

She took a deep breath and hit accept. "What is it, Jane..." she said, but a noise from a room over caught her attention and she lowered her phone as Jane started muttering away.

She stepped around a corner, searching for the cause of the noise when a rush of footsteps came banging in her direction. She turned and yelped as she was very abruptly knocked down. Her phone slide out her hands and across the floor and she could hear Jane's suddenly panicked voice yelling out to her. "Lisbon!"

She reached for her Glock. It was gone. It had dropped right in front of her. She stretched out for it, but a foot kicked it away. She tried to roll back and away from her attacker, but he was too fast.

"Lisbon!" she heard Jane yell one last time, before a fist came down into her face.

* * *

Jane had retreated into Lisbon's office after Grace had had her say. She had been harsh but honest and he had to admit that he was conflicted. He had sensed this was coming the entire drive back to headquarters. She was growing exponentially angry with him, and he had believed that it was because he and Lisbon had been keeping the team in the dark. The reality had been more painful than that. While he knew now that the team was fully aware that he and Lisbon shared a secret about Red John that they hadn't shared with them, the real issue in her mind was how he and Lisbon had been acting toward one another.

Grace was right. He had confided in Lisbon and instead of working together they'd gotten into an argument over who Red John really belonged to. Whether it was Red John's intention or not the saying "divide and conquer" was definitely working in his behalf. Then to top it all off, Cho had very intentionally stepped in front of the entrance to the bullpen, letting him know that if he had planned on following Grace, he'd better rethink it. He silently thanked Rigsby's inability to focus on him when Grace was upset, and that he'd followed her into the bullpen right away. Even though he was sure both men had agreed with Grace, he didn't think he could handle getting a disapproving look from all four of his team members in the space of an hour.

He had planned on following Grace, but had gone into Lisbon's office instead, and there he stayed brooding over the events of the day, and mulling over how he'd fix things with Lisbon. He sat in the chair in front of her desk, as he had on so many occasions when he was waiting to apologize, knowing this time wouldn't resolve itself as easily. He crossed his legs and was tapping his finger to his lips, thinking, when he decided to call her.

He wasn't surprised the first three times he called her when she'd let him ring straight through to voicemail, but it was getting late and he wanted to make sure she was all right. It wasn't until the fourth time he'd called, when her phone had rung one time before going to voicemail, that a nervous sensation started filling his gut. When she was mad at him, she simply ignored his calls. He'd actually found it endearing that even when she was mad and not answering his calls, she'd never turned her phone off on him, because she subconsciously always did want to talk to him. Tonight, however, she'd ended his call. Something wasn't right.

He stood up abruptly and made his way into the bullpen and looked at the team, who all gave him weary looks in return. He could fix things with them later. He pointed his phone at them. "Have any of you heard from Lisbon," he asked. It'd been a couple hours since he'd last seen her and he knew she was following up on a lead.

The all shook their heads.

"She had a little bit of a drive, but she'd have called if she thought she'd need back up," Rigsby told them.

"She's not answering," he continued, lowering his phone.

"She's probably still upset," Grace said, but not unkindly.

Jane's brow furrowed and he looked down. "Yes, you're probably right. Still, just the same—Cho, could you please send me the address you sent Lisbon?"

Cho took a deep breath but nodded and picked up his phone. A minute later Jane had the address.

"Thank you," he said turning out of the bullpen. He dialed her number once more as he made his way to the elevator.

He stopped abruptly when she answered her phone. "What is it, Jane," she said in a dispassionate tone. He sighed, only then realizing how nervous he'd actually been.

"Lisbon, where are you? You heading back?" He waited for an answer, but none came. He pulled his phone away from his ear and looked to see if he was still connected, then brought the phone back. "Lisbon?"

He jumped as he heard a loud yelp from Lisbon, then heard her phone drop. His pulse accelerated. He pressed the phone harder to his ear. "Lisbon?" he yelled.

He heard the sounds of a scuffle, and tried again. "Lisbon!"

All sounds seized for a moment, and then he heard breathing. "Sorry Patrick, Teresa can't come to the phone right now."

His heart beat furiously in his chest at Red John's voice on her line. He froze.

"Jane," he heard Grace say behind him.

He forced himself to turn and look at the worried expressions of all three colleagues before speaking. They'd heard him yell out Lisbon's name and had come to see what was going on. "Red John," he said simply.

The team immediately jumped into action, and while Jane could suddenly hear nothing but the sound of Red John's voice and breathing he knew what the team was doing. Grace went straight to her computer and put a trace on Lisbon's phone, Cho called the police nearest to where Lisbon was and Rigsby went and pulled his spare gun and car keys from his desk.

Red John laughed. "Yes, Patrick."

"What have you done to her?" Jane asked, sounding much calmer than he thought was possible considering the bile rising up his throat.

"Don't worry, Jane," Red John said. "I've always enjoyed Teresa, I'd even hoped the two of you would come together. If nothing else I am sentimental, and because of that, I promise you that she won't suffer."

"No, don't!" Jane heard himself beg into the phone, but it was too late, it had already disconnected.

He saw the team grabbing their guns, and heading in his direction. He looked at Grace expectantly.

"Her phone is at the address Cho sent you," she confirmed his unspoken question.

At that, Jane turned and ran.

* * *

Lisbon blinked as she tried to remember what had happened to her. She was lying on a dirty floor, her head was throbbing and a tall figure stood above her, facing the other direction.

"If nothing else I am sentimental," she heard a high male tenor speak, "and because of that, I promise you that she won't suffer."

It all came crashing back into her. He'd punched her and she'd obviously blacked out, but only for a moment. She looked in the direction he kicked her gun, and felt her gut churn when she saw that it was clear across the room. Red John closed her phone. Adrenaline pumped through her as she made a snap decision. She reached out to his foot, and wrapped the crook of her elbow around it in a vice-like grip, then rolled to the left.

Red John yelled out in fury as he landed with a thud partly on her and partially on the wood floor to the side of her. She shoved his legs off and scrambled to her feet. She sprinted for the hall. She felt an arm grab her shoulder and another go around her waist, holding her tightly to him and heard a soft chuckle in her ear. A shiver ran up her spine.

Her training kicked in, and she moved fast. Her feet came off the ground and tucked in as she swung her body to the right and kicked off the nearest wall, propelling herself and Red John backwards into another wall.

He hit the wall hard and his grip on her loosened, just enough for her to pull away and throw her elbow into his gut. She heard him gasp and pulled herself away from him. She ran again, down the hall and toward the front door. It was shut, but she didn't hesitate and immediately yanked it open. She heard a gun discharge from behind her and down the hall, and saw the frame of the door just to the left of her explode as she ran from the house and down the street to her car.

She pulled the keys from her pocket and started to unlock the door when she saw her tires were all slashed. She shoved the keys in the lock anyway as another bullet shattered the back window. She ripped her door open and reached under the seat, grabbing the gun she always kept hidden there. She looked over the seat of her car and back through her shattered window at the house. Her vision was starting to blur, her head throbbed, and she was starting to feel a sharp pain under her jaw.

A man dressed all in black, and wearing a creeper mask crossed the porch and fired off two shots in her direction. She saw him slow after shooting at her, knew he'd seen she was armed and watched as her mind started functioning in slow motion.

Sirens wailed in the distance. She blinked, trying to keep her focus. Her heart thudded in her chest as she took aim, and fired right as Red John ran back into the house. She felt her knees starting to wobble and leaned against the frame of her door, willing herself to stay up, stay alert, for just a few more minutes.

Blue and red lights flashed in her peripheral vision, but she kept her gun prone on the house. She heard tires squealing to a stop on the pavement by her, but stayed focus. Kept her eyes on the danger in front of her.

"Agent Lisbon?" she heard someone ask. "We're SacPD."

She couldn't respond, could only watch the house, could only focus on staying alive.

"Teresa Lisbon," another voice asked. "She's bleeding."

She didn't respond. Didn't know how. She saw what she knew was cops swarming around her, saw a large group of police go into the house. Felt someone reach for her gun, but held on to it with a death grip. It was as if she were conscious of everything going on, but unable to move, or talk, or blink.

"We need an ambulance!" Someone yelled.

Another voice took it's turn in the chorus of voices she didn't know. "She's in shock."

She forced her eyes to close and open again. She allowed her gun to be removed from her hands. Then fell to her knees on the street, between her car door and the vehicle itself.

* * *

Lisbon had always said Jane drove like a maniac, but he knew even she would be forced to reconsider the term 'maniac' after hearing how he'd made a forty-five minute drive in just under thirty minutes. When he arrived he knew immediately that he was in the right spot because there were cop cars everywhere, an ambulance and reporters. His heart jumped in his chest, as he parked his car and flew out the door, not even bothering to close it behind him, and then ran through the cop cars and past a plethora of news cameras.

A cop saw him coming and Jane knew he looked like he might try and stop him, but that he wouldn't succeed if he did try.

"Where is she?" Jane found himself yelling as he charged past the cop.

Another cop stepped forward, and looked behind him, raising his hand in a warding gesture. "It's all right, he's her partner." It wouldn't be until hours later that Jane would realize that he had met that cop before and that he'd stopped the first cop he'd seen from chasing him.

He continued past several more cars, heading in as straight a shot toward the ambulance as he could, given the amount of police vehicles and police themselves. Fear gripped him the closer he got to the ambulance, unsure what he'd find. A cop pointed as he reached the front of the vehicle. Jane slowed as a cop gave him a weak smile, and nearly stopped before taking the last few feet around to the back of the ambulance and to the open door.

He stopped in his tracks the moment he rounded the corner. Lisbon was sitting on the gurney, with her legs off the side as a paramedic applied a band-aid to her forehead. She cringed.

"The painkiller I gave you should be kicking in any minute now," the EMT told her.

She touched her forehead. "Good, because my head is killing me."

Jane could feel his chest heaving from his run and from the terror he had just experienced. He tried to calm himself as he took her in. She had a thick bandage to her throat and blood was seeping through it a little, she had a bruise on her cheek and apparently a cut on her forehead, but appeared fine otherwise.

"Lisbon," he breathed out so quietly he was surprised either of them had heard it.

She and the EMT both turned and looked at him. He made eye contact and held it. The EMT looked nervously between the two of them.

"Do you know this man," the EMT asked.

Lisbon responded without breaking eye contact with him. "Yes," she hesitated. "He's my partner. Could you give us a minute, please?"

Jane kept his eyes on her, barely moving, as Lisbon stood up and made her way out the back of the ambulance. He watched as she very ably jumped down and stopped in front of him. He watched as she waited for him to say something. He didn't.

"Looks like our druggie socialite has a connection with Red John," she said breaking the silence.

He moved, so quickly he couldn't remember having made the decision, so quickly that she jumped a little as he wrapped her in his embrace and buried his head in her hair. He felt her arms come tentatively up and around his back.

"Teresa..." he started, but he didn't know what to say.

He could feel her hands rubbing circles on his back. "I'm fine, Patrick."

He suddenly saw red and pulled away from her, but still held her shoulders firmly in his grasp. "You're not fine," he said eyeing her throat.

She wasn't fazed. "Yes, well, we fought, and at some point he had a knife at my throat. Thing is, I can't even remember that."

Jane felt his entire body clench at the visual she'd just painted for him. "You fought?" he asked. He'd been nauseous since she'd first declined his call, but this was the first time he thought throwing up might be a real possibility.

Lisbon's face became indignant. "Yes, Jane, I fought the bastard who tried to kill me. It seemed like the right thing to do at the time, and oh yeah, I'm a cop. It's my job."

Jane looked down into her eyes and became instantly contrite. "It is your job," he said slowly. "I'm so sorry." He pulled her to him again.

* * *

Rigsby slowed the van, then stopped it right next to Jane's car and parked. Grace and Cho jumped out of the van and immediately found the closest officer as he got out of the driver's seat and joined them.

"Is she okay?" Grace asked, her tone betraying her concern.

"She's fine," the officer assured them, "she's being looked at by a paramedic. She might not even have to go to the hospital."

Rigsby looked nervously around the scene. There was at least ten cop cars, close to twenty cops, an ambulance and reporters from every news station and paper around. It made him nervous that all these reporters had somehow found out and then had beat them to the scene. He kept one eye on the crowd and the other on his partners.

As soon as Cho had made the call earlier, telling SacPD that there was an officer in danger, he knew that they would have cops here in minutes. Cops always looked after their own, but he was still nervous. His hand sat right above his gun on his hip as he looked around at the officers who'd responded to their call. They'd been in situations like this before, and he knew from years of experience, that anyone of them could be one of Red John's "friends".

He and Cho exchanged looks, as he moved closer to Grace. She was completely focused on Lisbon. It didn't escape his notice that Cho's hand was also lingering near his gun.

"She was a little in shock when we got here, and she does have some injuries, but she'll be fine," the cop told Grace. She sighed and her shoulders heaved from her relief.

"Oh, thank god," she whispered under her breath.

They'd gotten a call when they were half way here, that they'd found Lisbon and that she was injured, but alive, but it had been cut off so abruptly because the officer couldn't hear them. There had been too much commotion from a rising crowd and reporters.

"Why are there so many reporters," Rigsby asked the officer.

He shrugged. "The swarmed us about ten minutes after we got here."

"That seems strange," Grace voiced what Rigsby was thinking.

"I have to tell you, your boss is already a legend," the officer said.

Rigsby's brow furrowed. "How do you mean?"

"Well, isn't she the first person to ever get away from Red John after being in his clutches?" Rigsby saw Cho's brow furrow, as the cop continued. "She must have done a number on him too."

"A number?" Grace questioned.

"Yeah, I thought they told you when they called you." The officer looked confused.

"We got cut off," Cho mumbled.

The cops face lit up, excited that he go to relate to them what had happened. Rigsby fought the urge he had to punch him.

"She fought him, even shoved him in to a wall hard enough that it made a hole the size of his back, and we think that she may have shot him. She was bleeding pretty profusely when we got here, but she said she thinks she hit him."

Grace gasped.

Rigsby stomach roiled.

Cho looked over the crowd again. "Where's is she?" he asked.

The cop pointed through a mess of police cars to an ambulance at the end of the cul-de-sac. Grace and Cho immediately took off in a jog, and he followed after one more cursory glance. When he rounded the back of the ambulance, he saw that Cho was hugging Lisbon and that Van Pelt was biting at the bit for her turn. Jane stood back a few feet, eyes intently fastened on Lisbon.

"Rigs," Lisbon said as Cho let her go and Grace shoved in.

"Hey Boss," he said. "You all right?"

She smiled, as Grace let go. "A little sore, but I'll survive."

"We were so worried," Grace said. Her eyes started glistening as she looked at Lisbon's throat.

Rigsby followed Grace's stare and pushed in to give Lisbon his own hug. He'd liked Lisbon from the moment she'd been assigned his boss. She was tough, thick skinned and fair, but over the years, just like everyone on the team, she'd become more. She was like family to him. He squeezed her a little tighter than he should have.

"I'm all right, Wayne," she said patting him lightly on the back.

He stood back and swallowed clearing the lump from his throat. "It's just good to see it with my own eyes," he told her.

"Do you need to go to the hospital?" Cho asked.

She shook her head, and Rigsby looked immediately to her throat where blood was seeping through the bandage a little. She reached up and touched it, and Rigsby glanced away, noting as he did, that all three of them had been staring at her neck.

"I don't even need stitches," she told them. "It was close, but not that close."

"He had a knife to your throat," Jane whispered, drawing Rigsby's attention as well as Cho's and Grace's. "He drew blood."

"Yes, he did," she conceded, looking at Jane. "But really, compared to other injuries I've had in the past, I can live with this."

"But you got away, Boss," Cho jumped in. "No one's ever gotten away from Red John before. You don't think he'll try again?"

"He won't," Jane said. "Not right away, anyway. He'd be a fool to. Besides," Jane nodded behind him, and Rigsby looked over Jane's shoulder, noting that at some point the film crews and come around the back of the ambulance and had started filming the team with Lisbon. "It will be a much better victory if he can kill her after making the public love her and her team."

Rigsby looked back at Jane and then at his boss. They both wore calm expressions, but he felt a horrified expression on his own face, and then saw that Grace and Cho were similarly alarmed. Red John had changed the game again.

* * *

Lisbon had insisted on going back to the office before heading home and was completely unsurprised when Jane had insisted on going with her. She hadn't argued with him, because she was secretly worried for his sanity. He'd barely said anything since he'd found her in the ambulance, and she wondered if he'd have broken the vice like hug he'd put her in if Cho and Van Pelt had come when they had. He seemed fragile and she knew that it had everything to do with the fact that he had faced her death today.

He sat on the couch in her living room as she stood in her kitchen making them tea. She glanced out at him, and watched him run a hand through his already messy curls. His legs were crossed and he almost seemed to be folding in on himself. She swallowed, then cringed at the tightness the action had caused in her neck near the cut. The painkillers the paramedic had given her were working miracles, but she was still aware of exactly where the cut was. She looked away from him as the water started to boil and made an extra effort to make it exactly how he liked it.

She took a deep breath as she recalled the moment she'd seen the cameras on them. She hadn't been so sure about his accusations that Red John had played up her escape to his advantage, that was until the entire team had briefly gathered around the T.V. in the bullpen, as images of each of her teammates hugging her, and in Grace's instance rubbing tears out of her eyes, were played over and over again, with headlines and reporters playing up her escape from the "notorious serial killer Red John," as something truly miraculous. She found that a little insulting, but the rest—her teams unwavering loyalty to her, her professionalism, and skill as a cop, her bravery, blah blah blah—was enough to make her want to blush.

One station had even dug up the story written about her during her time with the San Francisco PD, when she'd helped put William McTeer away. Saint Teresa was making a huge comeback. They'd even gotten an interview with not only Gale Bertram, but also with Robert Kirkland, and both men had sung her praises. Which she found highly suspicious considering they were both on Jane's list.

She turned the T.V. off when they'd started talking about Jane. The last thing he needed to see right then was his own brutal history. He was right though, even though she knew Red John hadn't intentionally let her go, she knew for a fact that he'd had every intention of killing her, this media crap would only make Red John all the more unstoppable in the public eye if he did ever manage to kill her. Hell, she wasn't even sure she'd be surprised if it turned out he'd been the one to call the media.

She finished making the tea and headed over to the couch. She handed Jane his mug, which he took with a pathetic attempt at a smile and a thank you, before he sat it down on the coffee table in front of him, and began brooding again. She sat down at the far end of the couch and took a sip of her own.

"I made it just the way you like it," she said in a weak attempt to break him out of his mind.

He nodded.

"Jane, snap out of it," she barked, before she'd thought it through.

He jumped and looked over at her. "Yes, I'm sorry." He picked up his tea and took a sip. "It's excellent."

She smiled, couldn't really help herself. "That's not what I meant and you know it."

"I'm just a little out of it. It's been a long day, Lisbon," he said.

She cocked a brow at him, then reached up to her throat. "Tell me about it."

His face dropped.

"Now, don't do that," she said quickly. "I'm not trying to make you feel bad, this wasn't your fault."

"It's not?" He lifted a hand, palm up as if in supplication, then dropped it and continued. "I think that's up for debate. If I hadn't fought with you, you never would have gone there by yourself."

"And therein lies the problem." He looked at her curiously and she felt proud that she'd caught him off guard. "If you hadn't offended Red John, if you hadn't gone out with Kristina, if, if, if. You are not responsible for Red John's actions. You fought with me earlier, because you were trying to protect me. I went to that house, both of us unaware of a connection to Red John."

"What's your point?" he asked almost, but not quite unkindly.

"You can't protect me all the time, Jane. Anyone who knows about the list is in danger. I'm in danger, you're in danger." She sat her tea cup down, at the same time he did. "That's the fact of the matter. I'm as much a part of this mess now as you are."

He sighed. "I know that."

"Do you? Do you really, Jane?" she asked. "Because if you did, I would imagine that you would stop keeping things from me. They way I see it, the only way were going to make it out of this alive, is if we stick together. I'm a cop. I knew what I was getting into when you told me the names on the list."

She shirked back as he smiled slightly at her. She hadn't expected that. "A united front," he said.

Her brow furrowed. "Yes, exactly."

He reached a hand out for one of hers and she gave it to him, a little reluctantly. His hand encompassed hers and her heart started thumbing in her chest. "Fine," he said, "but don't think that I will ever stop protecting you, even if that means facing your wraith."

She glared, but didn't really feel it. "But maybe would should face one thing," she said.

His eyes narrowed and she knew that he knew what she was about to say, and was warning her not to. She didn't care, she'd face his "wraith," if he intended on bring out her own. It seemed only fair. "I almost died tonight. The truth of the matter is, that if it hadn't been for my training as a cop, I'd be lying in a pool of my own blood right now."

She saw him cringe at the image she'd painted for him and felt his hand grip hers even tighter. "I'm perfectly aware," he started, but she cut him off.

"But I didn't and I'm not. So, stop acting as though I had," she said in her most commanding boss voice. She lifted his hand in hers and shoved his fingers against the vein in her neck. "See, still beating. Red John will not take me down without a fight. Not ever."

She watched his face soften from the hard angry lines they'd been in moments before, then sat still as he moved across the couch and pulled her to him once more. His lips came down on hers for one brief, sweet moment, before he pulled away and buried his head in her hair. She blinked rapidly, as a wave of confusion and elation came over her, then returned his hug.

"I can't lose you Lisbon," he whispered.

"You're not going to," she promised.

Then someone knocked on her door.

* * *

Cho knocked three times and took a step back. Two patrol cars sat down in Lisbon's parking lot and he was well aware that there were others not far away. With all the media frenzy, he'd be surprised if she'd be left alone in the next year.

He waited patiently a moment before he heard her voice at the door. "Who is it?"

"Cho," he said.

He heard her dead bolt disengage, and a moment later she came into view. She held her gun in one hand and the door in the other, as she stood back to let him in. She looked a little harried, her hair mussed and Cho hid a smirk as he saw Jane sitting on the couch. Cho had seen Jane's car in the lot, knew he'd taken Lisbon home, but after one look at him, he had the distinct impression that a little canoodling had been going on. Maybe something positive would come out of this after all.

"What's wrong," Lisbon immediately asked him as she shut and bolted her door again.

"I need to talk to you both," he said as he looked between them.

Jane sat forward on the far end of the couch, and gestured to Lisbon's lounger. "Have a seat, Cho," Jane said in a resigned voice. He obviously knew what this was about.

Lisbon glared at Jane, but Cho knew it wasn't because she didn't want him to sit, but because she was irritated that Jane had invited him to sit, in her home, like he had some right to do so. He sat down on the foot rest of the lounger as Lisbon came around and sat on the couch. Jane smirked at her, then reached for the tea sitting in front of her, before pushing the tea in front of him in her direction. Lisbon blushed and Cho rolled his eyes.

Cho chose to ignore Jane's blatancy and jumped right in. "I want to know what you have on Red John."

Lisbon balked. "We don't..."

Jane reached forward and touched her lightly on the arm. She looked down at his hand then followed his arm up to his eyes. He shook his head at her.

"Grace made it perfectly clear to me earlier today, that we haven't been as subtle as we thought," Jane told her.

"I understand that you keep things from us to protect us," Cho continued, "and I know why you wouldn't want to get Van Pelt or Rigsby involved, especially when you consider their relationship and Ben, but there's no reason to keep me out of the loop."

"You think we don't care and worry about you just as much as them?" Lisbon asked.

"He knows we do," Jane said simply. He placed his hand on her back.

Cho spoke again. "I appreciate your concern. I think we, your team has the right to know. I can't force you to tell us, but I hope you will, but I can ask you to let me help. Red John doesn't work alone, and you're going to need us."

Lisbon and Jane made eye contact and as he had seen so often over the years, he'd noticed a wordless exchange pass between them. After several moments, they both looked back at him, Lisbon with anxiety and Jane, resolve.

The End

* * *

**A/N: This idea just wouldn't leave me alone. It started out of my need to see Lisbon get away from Red John on her own, (she is a cop after all,) and sort of morphed into this monster of a tag. Haha. I hope you enjoyed it and would love to know what you think. **

**I'll have the next chapter of In The Details up tomorrow. **


End file.
